By Victoria Looseleaf
Life changes in an instant and so it did when my mother passed away suddenly on March 22, curiously enough, my father’s 88th birthday. They’d been apart for years, but having had five children together, an inextricable bond existed between them.
In actuality, my first night out is tomorrow when we go to Disney Hall to see John Adams conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in what is sure to be a grief-assuaging performance. On the bill is the West Coast premiere of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 9 – a work that was co-commissioned by the Phil – and Adams’ own Violin Concerto performed by the dynamic Leila Josefowicz. Thank God, as well, for the curtain-raiser, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, by Estonian holy minimalist composer, Arvo Pärt. Let the tears flow…
Friday night Passover begins and Saturday morning at 8 a.m., we’ll be listening to Arts Alive on KUSC, as we’ve got an interview with Irish thespian and stellar Beckett interpreter, Barry McGovern (at right, below). Click here for our chat with Mr. McG.
Sunday we’ll catch the final performance of our colleague, Julian Sands (at left), in his one-man celebration of Harold Pinter, directed by the inimitable John Malkovich. Check it out: It’s a benefit for the wonderful Odyssey Theatre.
Wow: Just writing about this stuff makes us feel better.
T.S. Eliot may have dubbed April the cruelest month, but the April issue of Dance Magazine is anything but cruel. Indeed, it’s très cool, and we’ve even got a short interview with the super talented dancer/choreographer Christopher Scott, part of a larger piece about choreography for the camera in the issue. Some of you might know Scott from So You Think You Can Dance, while he’s also been integral to John Chu’s Hulu web series, LXD: The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, both in front of and behind the camera.
Take a look at the story here and don’t forget: Hug the people you love. (Top photo: Gustav Klimt painting from 1911, Death and Life)
